Vongola Decimo
by coffeelatte
Summary: A series of vignettes and multi-chapter arcs on the makings of Vongola Decimo following where the manga left off. CH 2: "Contrary to popular belief – that Hibari Kyouya did not have parents, and in fact, spontaneously spawned from the darkest and most terrifying dredges of the world – Hibari did have parents." Rated T for language.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:** Hello hello. This is my first venture into the KHR fandom, so we'll see how this goes, LOL. I've just had a crazy muse for writing khr fanfiction after rereading the manga recently.

This fic is going to be more of an eclectic mix of oneshots, two-shots, three-shots, vignettes, etcetera, about the making of Vongola Decimo from where the manga left off. Mostly, it'll be through their high school years and a little bit about once he's actually taken over the Vongola Family. It'll also indulge me in my love for 1827 and 8059, so I hope you like those pairings, haha.

The following chapter is more of a preface to the rest of the fic – and if there are things / scenes / prompts you'd like to see covered, lemme know and I'll try to write it in!

**Disclaimer:** I do not own PoT.

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**preface.**

summary: the family of Vongola Decimo to a sharply observant outsider.

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Mochida Katsuro is a pretty normal guy, all things considered.

He's not a stellar student (but then, how many teens are?) but his grades are enough to get by, and it's not like he's particularly attractive, but he's not ugly, either. He's just kind of one of those guys that are friends with most people in their grade, but never quite makes a standout debut in society or anything; he's just average.

Which he supposes is the stark opposite to Sawada Tsunayoshi, the boy he's coincidentally shared class with for all three years of middle school, and now the first year of high school: chronically, hopelessly, cringe-worthily _below-average_. Katsuro's never been friends with Sawada or anything, but after spending three-and-running years with the kid in the same class, it's hard to _not_ know about him.

After all, he's the kid who famously managed to single-handedly pull down the class's average with his deplorable scores throughout middle school (and it doesn't seem like his high school grades are that much better, either), the kid who couldn't complete the 15 meter swim test, the kid who made an occupation out of being a, well, _loser._

Dame-Tsuna, they called him. No-Good Tsuna.

How did that even happen to someone? How did someone suck _so bad_, at _everything_, that a group of teenagers collectively referred to him as Dame-Tsuna?

In any case, the below-average nature of Tsuna soon became an accepted way of life during the days of Namimori Middle School – much like how the volatile and terrifying reign of Hibari Kyoya became an accepted way of life, along with the natural popularity of Yamamoto Takeshi.

Somewhere in the middle of their first year, though, something weird started happening.

Yamamoto Takeshi befriending Dame-Tsuna, for one. And as if their grade's most popular kid – and most athletic – suddenly hanging out with the class loser wasn't weird enough, some kid from _Italy_ transferred halfway through the year.

And this kid, geez, he was a real piece of work, Katsuro remembers. Silver hair and green eyes that already made him stick out like a sore thumb in Japan (and made all the girls swoon), a cigarette always between his lips and an unending supply of glares and cusses to give anyone who so much as glanced his way. There were rumors going around about how he was part of the Italian mob, or summat.

And then _he_ became friends with Dame-Tsuna, too, and for a while there Katsuro remembers wondering if he'd somehow hit his head and woke up in an alternate dimension.

Just when Katsuro thought things couldn't get any more strange, Dame-Tsuna somehow wins over _Sasagawa Ryohei_, the crazy (but also popular) second-year as well as his younger sister, the prettiest girl in their grade: Sasagawa Kyoko.

That's right around when some _real shit_ started to go down.

It's been a few years but Katsuro doesn't think he'll ever forget the few weeks wherein over twenty of Namimori Middle School students had been hospitalized, with varying numbers of missing teeth. He remembers coming to school and finding out that Kentaro-senpai had been ambushed on his way home the night before, remembers finding out that six additional Namimori students had found themselves on the hospital's roster shortly after.

Katsuro also remembers Dame-Tsuna.

Katsuro's a disgustingly average guy, yeah, but what a lot of people don't know is that he's- _observant._ He kind of thinks of it as a hobby – watching people (it's really not as creepy as it sounds) and noticing all the details that often go missed by the general public.

For example: Sasagawa Kyoko has a nervous habit where her fingers scratch absentmindedly at her wrist – one will find that after Sasagawa Ryohei's boxing matches, she'll have raw, red skin from where her right hand had scratched at her left. She will also have similar red skin following math, because that's her worst subject.

For another: Hibari Kyoya's infamous for 'biting people to death' (seriously, what is with this insane school and these odd one-liners) when he feels as though there is 'crowding' going on. But people don't realize that there has to be a very exact ratio of space-to-people for Hibari Kyoya to feel 'crowded' – that space to people ratio is, Katsuro's found, roughly one person per fifteen square meters. (This ratio is _very_ flexible depending on how much he dislikes the current parties, however).

So yeah, Katsuro can't help that he notices shit about Sawada, too. It's a habit.

He notices that Sawada's actually really, really clean for a teenage boy their age: his clothes are all wrumpled and in a disarray, yeah, but they're all perfectly washed and never with a stain, if he can help it. His bag is clean, too, and he uses a large volume of napkins during each meal. He's not _neat_, but he's very hygiene-conscious.

And Katsuro also realizes to _what extent_ Dame-Tsuna is a coward. The kid shakes like a leaf at practically _everything_, from unexpected noises to the upcoming math test to Hibari Kyoya's presence in the halls (but that's an understandable fear). Out of the corner of his eye, Katsuro's always noticed Dame-Tsuna visibly wavering when his turn to read in literature class approaches, noticed Dame-Tsuna paling, just a bit, when team sports are announced during P.E. (he's started paling a little less since befriending Yamamoto and Gokudera, who are always quick to pick him for their teams).

It's kind of, actually, really sad. Slightly pathetic.

Katsuro happens to be there when Hibari Kyoya announces that Sasagawa Ryohei has been hospitalized, and yeah, he happens to notice Dame-Tsuna's reaction.

It's precisely because Katsuro's so observant that he's so utterly _baffled_ at Sawada's reaction.

Yeah, he'd given his typical, horrified "Hiii" – but had gone right on to inquire about Sasagawa's location, with this strange note in his voice that was oddly and uncharacteristically- determined.

What's up with Dame-Tsuna?

Fast forward a few months, and Katsuro notices when suddenly, Sawada and Yamamoto and Gokudera and Sasagawa show up to school wearing these rings. (Katsuro chooses not to even contemplate on the number of times varying combinations of those guys come to school wearing bandages and crutches on various parts of their bodies – or when they're oddly healed in a very, very short amount of time).

They're silver and they wear it on various areas – Gokudera on his right ring finger, Yamamoto on a chain around his neck, and Sawada on his left middle. They're not _identical_, because Katsuro notices that they all bear different insignias, but they're alike enough that it's obvious that they're from the same set.

He figures they're some bro-form of friendship rings, and even though it's a little weird, what does he know, right?

And yeah, Katsuro almost loses his shit when the next time he sees Hibari Kyoya, the guy's wearing a similar ring on his middle finger as he holds up his signature tonfas. Like- _what the fuck_, you're telling him that Hibari _fucking-I'll-bite-you-to-death-for-existing-and-breathing-in-my-presence_ Kyoya is suddenly wearing friendship rings with Dame-Tsuna?

Like shit, man, things were getting weird around here but what the hell is this?

(The fact that only he, Katsuro, is noticing all these small details is also something that's slowly and steadily driving him to insanity, because Hibari-_death-is-thy-middle-name_-Kyoya is wearing the same ring as Dame-Tsuna and no one else has noticed and the world keeps turning like nothing's wrong).

So Katsuro's slowly going crazy in a corner trying to figure everything out (and he doesn't dare fuckin' just _ask_, because have you _seen_ the way Gokudera foams at the mouth and everything, glaring at everyone like a dog with rabies the second anyone strikes up a conversation with Dame-Tsuna?) when they get transfer students.

Well. Apparently they're transfer students from Shimon Middle School, but the way Katsuro sees it, it's more likely that the circus stopped by in town and told seven of their craziest acts to go parade the freak-show into Namimori Middle School.

Dame-Tsuna makes friends with _them_, too, and that's right about when Katsuro's given up on the universe in general.

It's been about a year and a half since then.

A lot of kids from Namimori Middle went on to Namimori High School, present parties included. They're all there: Hibari Kyoya with his ongoing disciplinary committee, Sasagawa Ryohei and his boxing club, Gokudera Hayato with his cigarettes and surprisingly high grades, Yamamoto Takeshi and his baseball, and- Dame-Tsuna, who's really, still Dame-Tsuna.

Still bad grades, still hopeless in P.E. class, still treated like a loser by 99% of the school population.

But since halfway through their first year in middle school, Dame-Tsuna had slowly found himself in the smack dab center of a ring of extraordinary people – people who were decidedly above average. Even Sasagawa Kyoko, who's only gotten _prettier_ with the years, remains one of his closest friends.

They're all still wearing the rings (and still no one else has noticed, much to Katsuro's never-ending despair and confusion), and everything's the same as it was in middle school, except for now the whole lot of them disappear every once in a while and there are rumors that someone saw them all at the airport during one of the disappearances on the way to- Italy?

It's a strange sight, and one day, one of Katsuro's friends approaches him about it. It's Harumi Ginta, who'd attended a middle school outside of the district and only started in Namimori this year for their first year of high school – meaning, he's not exactly familiar with the…_charms_ of Namimori.

(Katsuro's kind of looking forward to the first time Ginta breaks the rules, because it's kind of like a rite of passage every Namimori student goes through: getting hospitalized by Hibari Kyoya).

"So I just saw Dame-Tsuna get picked up by Gokudera for lunch again," is Ginta's greeting. Ginta's new to Namimori, yeah, but Sawada being 'Dame-Tsuna' is kind of an accepted way of life at this point.

"Oh. Yeah." Katsuro replies.

"Man, it's so weird – they've been like that since middle school?"

It's only the third month since high school's started. Katsuro remembers the first week, when Gokudera had flipped a shit that he wasn't in the same class as 'Juudaime' (yeah, that whole Juudaime business is weird, too, and there's so many things about Dame-Tsuna that doesn't add up that his existence basically singlehandedly dismantles all laws of mathematics). "Yeah, basically," Katsuro shrugs.

"And Dame-Tsuna's also friends with like- Yamamoto and stuff, huh? And like. The Sasagawa siblings."

And yeah, when an outsider puts its like that, yeah, Dame-Tsuna's situation is even _weirder_ than Katsuro had thought – which was already pretty weird. All he can do is shrug.

"Man! Are they all really friends? Maybe they're just like, suckering him into doing stuff for them. Like. Who knows if they're really his friends."

"No."

"What?"

And Katsuro doesn't really know why he's getting so serious about this stupid thing with stupid Dame-Tsuna, but he can't help it, because he notices all these little quirks about that odd crew that something as ridiculous as "maybe they're just suckering him into doing stuff for them" rubs him the wrong way. "They're friends. Like. Really, really good friends."

Because the rest of the school might just see Dame-Tsuna hanging around the most popular guys in the school for absolutely no reason and no justification, might come to the conclusion that they're friends just so that they can use Dame-Tsuna (because they can't think of any other reason how Sawada could become friends with Gokudera and Yamamoto and the Sasagawa siblings).

But Katsuro sees the way that Gokudera resembles more of a- a _guard dog_ when he's around Sawada, the way he'll brutally look at anyone who approaches Sawada, as if assessing whether or not they're allowed to interact with him. (Actually, Yamamoto does the same thing – it's hard to catch, because Yamamoto always has this permanent bright smile on his lips, but there's a calculating light that seeps into his eyes nowadays whenever someone new approaches Dame-Tsuna, as if, as if they're _assessing_ and _making sure that they're safe_, and it sends a shiver down Katsuro's spine).

He sees the way that Gokudera visibly _lights up_ when Sawada even so much as glances his way, as if he's suddenly seen the light and everything dear and precious to him. He sees the little things Gokudera does for Sawada that probably even Sawada doesn't notice – like how he'll meticulously check Sawada's desk every morning to make sure that it's clean, how he'll make sure Sawada's favorite lunch combo is still in stock in the cafeteria by scaring off the last person who wants to buy it, like how he'll casually just grab two handouts instead of one when the teacher tells everyone to pick one up, so that he can drop it off on Sawada's desk so that Sawada doesn't have to get up.

It's a little disconcerting, but Gokudera looks at Sawada like he's his _savior_, or something.

And the way Yamamoto looks at Sawada isn't too far off, though with him, it's a little more lax than Gokudera's intensity. Gokudera's about a hundred times more loud and aggressive and upfront about it all, so it's easy to miss it, the way that Yamamoto is just as protective about Sawada as Gokudera is, because Yamamoto doesn't yell and glare openly at every person who looks at Dame-Tsuna the wrong way. Instead, he lingers in the back and lets Gokudera do the yelling, but his friendly smile turns a touch cold and it's as if he'll be ready in a second's notice to take over if Gokudera isn't enough.

He's scarily observant and is liable to turn up whenever their classmates whisper nasty things about Dame-Tsuna, to sidle up to Sawada and sling an arm around him and laugh over the whispers so that Sawada won't hear the girls behind him murmuring about how lame he is. He also makes it a point to always, always pick Sawada first for teams during P.E., which doesn't seem like a lot, but Katsuro also notices how relieved and grateful Sawada is whenever he does.

Sasagawa Ryohei isn't around as much because he's a year above them, but in the odd moments he stops by to say hi to Sawada, he takes this look around the classroom and rests his eyes on a few of the students, as if to say- _Take care of Sawada, he's in your care._ He gets this extra jump in his step (which is saying a lot, considering it's Sasagawa and all his steps already have too much jump) and a bit more excitement in his voice when he's around Sawada, and it's like Sawada invigorates this man, who's already in a constant state of invigoration.

Katsuro's not gonna say that Hibari Kyoya's all friendly with Sawada or anything, but yeah, he does notice that Hibari looks at Sawada a little differently. Like, there's this way that Hibari looks at people in general, like he's a lion looking at a herd of sheep, as if he couldn't care less- _lions, after all, don't concern themselves in the matter of their prey._ But the way he looks at Sawada has changed a little, is a little less _predatory_ now, is certainly a lot less condescending, and he's starting to look at Sawada like he's more…tiger, than sheep, now.

It's a terribly mixed group that'll throw anyone for a loop: Yamamoto Takeshi and Gokudera Hayato and Hibari Kyouya and Sasagawa Ryohei and Sasagawa Kyoko and _Dame-Tsuna_, and they're nothing like one another, and it seems that they all share only one common factor: Sawada Tsunayoshi.

(It's strange, too, because ever since their third year of middle school, there've been odd moments when suddenly all those boys disappear for a few days on end at a time, amid rumors that they've gone off to _Italy_, of all places. It doesn't make sense, but then, nothing about Sawada does).

It's rare that you'll see all of them (including Hibari and Kyoko) in one place, but in the odd moments you do, you see something that'll make you blink twice.

Because when they're all gathered in the same place, they natural flit about and take their places around Sawada, like Sawada's the sun and they're the planets that gravitate about him. And yeah, that's a good word to describe it: _gravitate_, the way that they all move around him, putting Sawada in the center as if he's the sky and the sun and the moon and the stars. It's oddly protective and there's nothing short of _adoration_ in their eyes (except Hibari) when they look at him.

It's unsettling.

And Katsuro doesn't get it, no matter how much he observes and looks at them, he doesn't-

-but there are these moments.

Moments like when Sawada talked Yamamoto off of the roof (that's largely forgotten by now by the rest of Namimori High), like when Sawada frowns sharply whenever someone makes an offhand comment about how volatile and foreign Gokudera seems, like when Sawada's somehow the first to arrive whenever he hears that any one of them have gotten into some kind of trouble.

In moments like those, Katsuro thinks he can kind of, sorta, just barely _start_ to understand. A little bit.

He can never dwell on it long, though, because Hibari Kyoya is patrolling the halls and he really can't die yet he's only sixteen-

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**A/N:** So? What'd you think? It's my first time writing KHR and a lot of these things are just headcanons I like to fancy myself with, so I'd really appreciate feedback on what you thought. This chapter is also just the prologue / preface, so things'll start picking up starting the next chapter, oho.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N:** Thank you for the positive feedback on my first chapter! I absolutely love you all and I'm so very thankful to everyone who reviewed, and I'd like to take a little time to respond to the more specific reviews here:

Night Neko-Jin: Hello my lovely! It's so nice to see a familiar face, and I'm always flattered that you follow my stories – I'm also glad that I've managed to fulfill your expectations for a khr fic, oho. Everything is going marvelous for me, I hope the same for you.

Nanahikari2000: Hahaha actually that's my favorite kind of fic, too – from the PoV of a completely normal and logical person who's uninvolved, which is why I set up the prologue as such. Thanks for reviewing!

Discoabc: Ugh I'm so happy you like my random headcanons – they're silly and unimportant but I adore little headcanon details, hahaha. Also I'm just basically super flattered by your review in general and you've made me super happy, hahaha.

Takatou: Haha I'm happy you also like 1827 – I absolutely adore the pairing. I'm also really relieved that you like my characterizations of Tsuna and his Guardians, since it's my first foray into khr fanfiction, keke.

Be-ya: No, thank _you_ for the positive feedback – I'm very happy!

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**THIS CHAPTER.** I contemplated doing an 1827 or 8059 piece, but decided to leave that for another time (if you squint and use a magnifying glass you might detect a hint of 1827). I also decided to do another short piece, but I do want to start up like a small arc soon. I have a few ideas, but do you guys have any you want to see?

**NEXT CHAPTER.** I'm debating between a lot of little ideas – I'm considering an introspection piece on all of the Guardians and their relationship with Tsuna, maybe, or an 1827 piece or an 8059 piece. Is there anything you guys would want to see / prefer? If so, let me know in a review and I shall see what I can do!

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**Disclaimer:** I do not own KHR.

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**chapter i.**

summary: the family of Vongola X through the eyes of the Italian household staff.

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The visits to Italy start somewhere towards the end of their third year of middle school (well; Ryohei and Hibari had moved on to high school, but Tsuna, Yamamoto and Gokudera had been finishing up their last year of junior high).

The first time it occurred, Tsuna and his Guardians hadn't seen it coming at all.

Literally.

All Tsuna remembers is blacking out in the midst of doing his homework somewhere around halfway past seven p.m.; when he wakes up, he's strapped into a large leather seat and there's some sound of- _turbulence_?

Eyes wide – panicked and terrified – he whips his head from side to side to confirm his sinking suspicions: he's on a plane. (A small, very luxurious, private plane courtesy of the Vongola famiglia, but still thousands of miles above ground nonetheless). Before he can give a wail of confusion, he feels a blunt force slam into the side of his skull, and stars are swimming in his vision.

Now six-year-old Reborn floats gracefully back down into the seat beside him, twirling hammer-Leon in his hand cheerily. "Ciaossu. Close your lips, Dame-Tsuna, Vongola X shouldn't look stupid like that."

So yeah, it turns out that Reborn had kidnapped Tsuna and his six guardians in various ways (Gokudera rendered unconscious by the face of Bianchi; Lambo slapped into a teary submission; Yamamoto with _chloroform_ and Ryohei with a haphazard bag slapped over his head). Hibari and Chrome were the only ones to arrive of their own accord – Hibari because he was easily goaded with the prospect of a fight with the infant, and Chrome primarily because Mukuro's wrath would be exponentially larger than necessary should Reborn knock her out, too.

And Tsuna doesn't even have time to panic as much as he wants to faced with the prospect of meeting the Ninth again before he's knocked out cold by Reborn, who's found his whinging to be all-too annoying.

In any case, it was deemed that Vongola X (or Neo Primo, they're both rather interchangeable at this point) and his Guardians needed to start making trips to Italy in order to get ready for when they fully inherited the Vongola. If Tsuna's being really honest, it scares him shitless, because being in Italy – surrounded by the language, the Vongola manor and the suits of the mafia – makes everything feel so much more _real_ and _impending_ and really, he's only fifteen.

But he goes along with it, and before he knows it, they're making trips every few months.

Usually, it's just to have a friendly little chat with Nono. It might be strange, yeah, traveling across entire continents just for a little tea and lunch and weekend spent in the Vongola manor gardens, but Tsuna enjoys it. He likes spending time with the grandfather who'd always visited him as an infant with toys and laughter and warmth.

The household staff are bewildered, because there's their familiar Nono, a man typically with severe lines on his face and an intensity burning in his eyes, a man who commands power and _authority_. But as soon as Vongola Decimo steps into the place, he turns into the kindest, softest grandfather of all, and he's _laughing_, delight evident in his voice as he converses with the boy in Japanese.

They see Vongola Decimo fooling around with his Guardians, see the silly shenanigans and the broken Italian he attempts and the soothing lilts of Japanese when he speaks to his friends. They see the Vongola heir treating all of the household staff with more kindness than is wise for him to display, see how he picks up after the young Lightning Guardian in a way that's more fitting for a servant than the king of the castle.

They just see Vongola Decimo making trips to this manor, here, all for the sake of messing around and laughing and having tea with the Nono, and it's odd.

Of course, that's not the real reason that they frequent Italy, not really.

Tsuna's noticed by now, and he's rather sure his guardians have, as well (except perhaps Lambo, who's still awfully young).

Vongola X and his Guardians' visits to Italy are much more than just a formality, certainly more than just for little chats with the Ninth. It's more of a- _parade_, to show off the prized Vongola X generation to the manor inhabitants, to start introducing the idea of the tenth generation to the Vongola family and its allies.

It's to quell any and all doubts of Sawada Tsunayoshi's leadership abilities before he actually takes the helm, in order to minimize the backlash from the naysayers (and there are always those who protest the next successor).

And yeah, Sawada Tsunayoshi has a lot of opponents at first.

Because- look at him, he's this scrawny fifteen year old boy who can't even speak Italian, who had never even heard of the Italian mafia until a few years prior. And yes, sure, there are the stories that he's defeated the Varia, defeated Byakuran in the future and Shimon in the present and cured the Arcobaleno curse, but- how could that all be true?

No matter how many times Tsuna proves himself, over and over again, no matter how many times he's seen being greeted by the Nono with open arms, there are always, always people who can't fathom how he'd be fit to rule the Vongola. He hears the rumors up and down the hallways in the manor, and Tsuna doesn't mind them, not really, but he can't help but be upset when they doubt his Guardians, too, because they're incredible and they oughtn't be doubted just because he's their leader.

Tsuna's silly, though, because if he can hear these rumors, of course his Guardians have heard, as well.

He doesn't know that Gokudera's already attempted to 'blow up' various household staff for saying unsavory things about him approximately thirty five times (Yamamoto's always stopped him every time). He's unaware that Lambo's frowned and unleashed a grenade on a kitchen cook, once, for saying mean things about 'Tsuna-nii,' doesn't know that even Hibari has once fixed a cold and hard stare on a maid until she fled, terrified.

He's also unaware that Reborn and Nono had anticipated all of this, exactly.

So of course he's unaware that at some point, the Vongola manor received news that the Bonanno family would be attacking in the next few days. He's also in the dark that Vongola Nono specifically arranged it to be that Tsuna and his Guardians would be in Italy at the time, or that he specifically ordered his own Guardians to lower their defenses when they're attacked.

When the Bonanno family breaks through the gates of Vongola manor, they're greeted with the full force of Vongola Decimo and his Guardians. In fact, his Guardians are so powerful that they wipe out nine tenths of the force of over two hundred men that Bonanno has sent within half an hour, and no one's even managed to approach the actual mansion. It almost seems that Decimo himself won't even have to lift a finger-

-until the Bonanno family brings out its strongest box weapons, and a stray cloud of flames manages to intercept the Guardians' defense.

It hurtles straight towards the mansion, and the density of the flames is so strong that it's doubtful whether one of the Guardians can block it.

That's when Tsuna leaps in between the attack and the manor, outstretches his hands, and _nullifies the flames._

There are shocked expressions and awe and wicked murmurs all around.

Because this boy, this thin, fragile boy, has managed to replicate _Primo's_ legendary abilities all on his own, and could this mean that all those rumors and stories about him are true?

There's significantly less whispering about Vongola Decimo and his right to succeed after that.

There are other kinds of murmurs, instead.

Murmurs of how one oughtn't underestimate the Rain Guardian with his bright smiles and infectious laughter, because he's easily the most frightening of them all, if only because his smiling demeanor hides a vicious swordsman that's surpassed even Superbi Squalo; of how the Storm Guardian is terrible and wild and unrestrained, and how anyone who dares to question the tenth will be personally burnt by his hands; of how yes, the rumors that Vongola Decimo had managed to enlist the terrible and infamous _Rokudo Mukuro_ as part of his Mist guardian team was true, and he's even more frightening than the stories; of how the Sun Guardian may seem silly when he's yelling 'extreme' all the time but that's no reason to brush him aside, especially if the Tenth is in danger; of how the Lightning Guardian may be just a child, but Decimo is so fiercely protective of the boy that one should never _dare_ consider him the 'weak link.'

Of how the Cloud Guardian is easily one of the strongest Guardians of any generation and any attribute that the household staff has ever seen.

Rumors of how Sawada Tsunayoshi has assembled a militia of frighteningly powerful _monsters_ as his guardians, and how they prowl around him like a group of guard dogs, of how it's certain death for anyone who wishes ill against him because this group of all-powerful beasts is undeniably protective of their boss.

Of how yes, the Guardians are almost obsessively protective of their Boss, but how Decimo is even _moreso_, and much, much more powerful than his small stature will ever let on.

They're starting to see why he's the Decimo – why he's the boy who inherited something no other generation has managed to receive from the _Primo_, why he's the boy who stands amidst the rumors of a _new Neo Vongola._

(Later, Tsuna will realize that this was all but a setup courtesy of the Ninth and Reborn, and he'll be upset and kick up a fuss and _can't you see people could have gotten seriously hurt, Reborn!_ but Reborn will only smirk, because it's so typical of Dame-Tsuna to be upset over possible casualties instead of the fact that he'd been played).

And in the time to come, higher ups in the Vongola and its allied families will also come to the realization that this Sawada boy holds much, much more power than anyone could have ever anticipated.

That this Sawada boy has won the favor of even 'Bucking Horse Dino,' that it wasn't a mere fluke that someone as feared as Rokudo Mukuro has chosen to follow this boy; that Reborn remains Sawada's mentor not simply out of duty to the Ninth, but because he's decided that he'll follow Tsuna once he becomes the Decimo, too. At thirteen, Sawada Tsunayoshi managed to quell the unruly Varia, and that wasn't a fluke, either.

Nothing's a fluke when it comes to Vongola Decimo.

And yes, perhaps his Cloud Guardian is a bit out of line and unpredictable, but that's half the reason he's so powerful. (In the years to come, the Cloud Guardian will settle down and grow a fiercely unrivaled allegiance to Decimo, anyway – to _Sawada Tsunayoshi_, not the Vongola, never the Vongola if Sawada Tsuna is not the leader).

Matters of worth aside, it would be foolish to oppose Sawada Tsunayoshi for any given reason – seeing as how most of the people who've accepted him as the leader did so for _him_, not for Vongola. That should the Vongola reject Sawada Tsunayoshi, they will also be rejecting the long list of all-powerful figures who have chosen to accept _Tsuna_ because he is Tsuna, not because he is a Vongola.

They would also be knowingly unleashing the fury of at least twenty known sociopaths, each with the ability to destroy a very large and certain amount of the Earth, all of whom have somehow found that they have grown an affinity for the bumbling Decimo.

It's politically unwise, is what it is.

(Later, Vongola X will become the most powerful mafia boss, and the most frightening – because the people who choose to follow his kingdom are among the most terrible and strongest people alive, and they follow him with absolution and devotion and adoration).

By the time of the Inheritance Ceremony in a few years' time, there's absolute silence and acceptance when Sawada Tsunayoshi accepts the throne to the underworld.

* * *

**A/N:** Please review – let me know what you think of this piece, and what you wanna see in the next chapter!


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N:** This next chapter is long as all fuck (not really, just nearing 6K words, but longer than the others), because I kind of got out of hand, hahaha. It's just that all the characters of KHR are the loveliest, saddest little things and I just want to love them all and hold them and give them all the attention in the world, okay.

I got the most requests for a character introspection piece on each of the Guardians on their relationship to Tsuna, so I delivered, ohoho. Well, actually. I'd like to do a piece later on on their relationship with Tsuna, but this one is more of- why they choose to follow Vongola X.

My favorites in particular are the pieces on Gokudera, Hibari and Mukuro (because they're the most damaged and my heart bleeds for them) – but I just love all the Guardians, so.

Let me know which character piece was your favorite (as well as what you thought about the thing in general)? A lot of these are just my headcanons so I hope that they seem reasonable, hahaha. Also let me know what you want to see in the next chapter!

* * *

**Disclaimer:** I do not own KHR.

* * *

**chapter ii.**

summary: the Guardians of Vongola X and how the Decimo managed to call them his own.

* * *

**Gokudera.**

People don't really understand it – his _obsession_ with being the right-hand of Vongola Decimo. His family had been indescribably proud, of course, that one of their own had made it into such a prestigious position in none other than the famed Vongola Family; some assume that it's simply because it's such a powerful position and honor that Gokudera wants it.

It's not.

What they don't understand that it's not the Vongola position he wants, at all. It wouldn't matter if it were a measly third-rate family or one of the dominating famiglias of the underworld – he'd follow _Tsuna_ to the ends of the world, to hell and oblivion and back because the place he wants to stand upon is right beside Sawada Tsunayoshi, wherever he may be.

And yeah, people might not understand that, but that's fine. Gokudera doesn't need people to understand.

They don't realize that Gokudera Hayato had spent fourteen years feeling isolated and alone, like he was always an outsider looking in, desperately wishing he belonged, had spent fourteen years feeling very much like a small child who had been cast aside by the very people who were supposed to have protected him.

He was an illegitimate child. Blood was a tricky thing in the mafia, a tricky, _irrefutable_ thing (and that's half the reason Xanxus went off the edge, wasn't it?), and people talked. Yeah, his dad had lied and told everyone that he was his rightful son, but he'd forsaken Gokudera's mother to do so, and it's not like anyone believed him, anyway.

(Later, a matured Gokudera will realize that he'd been drowning in love – from his father and his sister – but he'd been too busy being hurt and angry and alone to ever realize this when it mattered).

Five year old Gokudera, walking down the hallway clutching his favorite toy when he hears some of the maids- "_Dirty blood, and the Master's trying so hard to make it seem like he belongs."_

Ten year old Gokudera, practicing his beloved piano: _"Look, he's playing the piano again – just like that wretched slut mother of his."_

He hadn't even known that she was his mother when she died.

So yeah, he has a few anger issues and a problem with authority in general, but what of it? He's fourteen and pissed at the shitty excuse of a world that had killed his mother, given him 'dirty blood' and made him an outcast by social and biological construct. He was _biologically an outsider_, and how shitty was that?

He's fourteen and feeling hateful towards the world, his so-called family, feeling as though there's no place he really belongs and as though he never really will belong, not completely. He's fourteen and frightened whenever he stops to think about it for too long, so he's fourteen and carrying dynamite and gets himself the label 'Smoking-Bomb Hayato' even though there's no mafia family willing to take him in.

He's fourteen and alone, when he meets Vongola Decimo.

At first the sight of the pathetic Decimo upsets him. Because it's not fair, is the thing, that Gokudera is- he's a fucking _genius_, musically talented and with brains sharper than any Mafioso and with a deadly nickname like _Hurricane Bomb_ by the time he's fourteen, but still, no family will take him because of blood illegitimacy. And you're telling him that this pathetic excuse for a boy has everything Gokudera has never had, everything Gokudera has ever wanted, all because he was lucky enough to share the same vein of blood as Nono.

It's not fair.

He's fully intent on taking this kid out, especially when Reborn tells him that he can become a candidate to become Vongola Decimo if he does so (and he needs this, he needs it _desperately_; he needs to belong and needs to show everyone who's ever told him that he wouldn't amount to anything because he doesn't have the right blood that they can go _fuck themselves_).

He loses (of course he does) and he fully expects to die as a result of his own fuck up. Deep down, Gokudera doesn't even mind; it's not as if anyone would be _sad_ if he died, anyway, and he'd been tired of always, always being by himself.

But then the stupid Decimo kid _saves_ him.

He does more than save him from the bombs; Tsuna takes him in, gives him a place as a Guardian and a smile and gets angry when people say bad things about him. Sawada Tsunayoshi gave Gokudera Hayato a _home_, is what it is, gave him a place to belong and in doing so, also gave him a purpose to live at all.

He's the first one to have looked at Gokudera and said _"Wow, you're amazing, Gokudera-kun,"_ the first one to have ever treated him as if he's _worth something._ During the Ring Battles, Tsuna gave up the goddamn _Vongola Ring_ for _his_ life – and if that isn't worth Gokudera's undying devotion for the rest of his life, than what is?

Tsuna treats him like he's important, like he has worth and like he's someone who matters – and for the first time, Gokudera Hayato stops feeling like an outsider.

So yeah.

Gokudera would do anything for Tsuna and there's really no limit on how far he'd go, or how deep off the edge of the abyss he'd fall. He'd die for Tsuna, would cut open his own chest to offer his still-beating heart if that's what Tsuna wanted, would kill for him, too.

But that's the thing about Tsuna.

Tsuna's never asked him to die for him – only to live, has repeatedly asked Gokudera to _live_, and there's really no one who's ever asked that of him, either.

So Gokudera lives for Tsuna.

* * *

**Yamamoto.**

Yamamoto's always had a pretty nice life, all things considering.

If anything, his lack of a mother figure might be what people point out as his 'dark side' – but to be quite honest, it's never been some great source of anguish and unresolved tension for him. His mother passed away when he was very young due to illness, and he'd been too young to really know what it meant or to grieve her loss too much, and his father had taken on both roles seamlessly.

Yamamoto would go as far as to say that his mother's death simply doubled the love he had for his father – his dad's the most important person in his life, and will remain so for years, until he really settles into the role of the Rain Guardian (at which point, Sawada Tsunayoshi takes that spot – but just barely). His dad's been there at every cornerstone, trying almost comically hard to fill the void left by his mother, to the point where Yamamoto had once grinned and told him _stop trying so hard, Oyaji – you've always been enough for me._

He's popular in school ever since primary, because he's tall and pretty attractive and his personality's one of the most easy-going ones anyone's ever encountered. He's confident, charismatic and an all-around good guy – what's not to like?

Then he plays baseball, and he's _really, really good_, and girls never even stood a chance.

He's doing pretty well.

Until suddenly baseball stops being an option when he breaks his arm.

Yamamoto surprises even himself with how quickly he falls off the edge, how rapid his descent into the dark abyss of _despair and hopelessness and anger_ is. It's just.

Baseball's always been that constant in his life, is the thing. His dad had gotten him started on baseball when he was barely three as a way to get him out there and socialize with other kids (secretly because his father needed to give both himself and his son a distraction from Yamamoto's mother's death), and through the years, it became his source of comfort and stress release.

And then it became his identity, his _moniker_, "oh, that guy who's really good at baseball."

For a guy so cheerful, the sharp edge of- _without baseball I'm nothing_ –comes frighteningly quickly, and Yamamoto – who's never faced an emotional hardship at all – cripples in seconds.

It's Sawada Tsunayoshi who saves him.

He saves him as he falls off the roof, yeah, but it's his _words_ that reach out and pull Yamamoto out of the dark funk he'd found himself in – that one oughtn't die until they've done everything they could with a dying will, and it makes him realize he's stupid and that he should get the hell off this ledge.

Sawada Tsunayoshi, who hadn't even really been on Yamamoto's radar until the rooftop incident, suddenly becomes one of the pivotal people in his world.

On the surface level, it's just fun to be with Tsuna. With Tsuna comes Gokudera (they're rather a package deal), and it's fun even to argue with Gokudera, funny to see how worked up the boy gets over the smallest of things. There's also this talking infant that follows Tsuna around, too, and gosh Tsuna manages to get himself into the weirdest, most interesting situations.

It's fun.

But it's more than that.

Yamamoto's always been an easygoing guy. He's always had things easy, has always been complacent and happy with whatever's going on around him.

It's only when he meets Tsuna that Yamamoto learns of other emotions – things like regret, bitterness, anger, things like relief, trust and anticipation. He's felt things like that before, yeah, but only when baseball was involved; the emotions he learns to feel after meeting Tsuna run so much deeper than the shallow things he'd felt in regards to baseball.

After all, how can one compare training for a baseball game to training to inherit a ring worth generations of pride and the life of a friend?

Tsuna teaches him humility, teaches him desperation, teaches him what it's like to live with the _dying will._ Tsuna reaches in and throws away the stupid notion of complacence and easy-going, because such things shouldn't be used to describe life – instead, Tsuna replaces those things with _passion_ and _fervor_ and wanting something so bad _you could die._

It gives life a different intensity, a different flavor.

It gives his vision Technicolor.

And with Tsuna, Yamamoto learns what it means to feel like you're really, honest-to-god alive.

So he doesn't understand the people who call him Dame-Tsuna, doesn't understand how people can't see what's achingly obvious: that he's brave beyond all measure, that he's this boy who will die for his friends and will do the very thing that haunts his nightmares if it means that they can smile a little brighter. That Tsuna's the person who showed him what life is supposed to be like.

Later, Yamamoto will become one of the legendary guardians of Vongola Decimo; he'll stop laughing at it like a game (but he'll never stop laughing, not when he's surrounded by his beloved friends and enjoying life the way Tsuna showed him how to), and he'll trade in his precious bat for his sword, because Tsuna's a hundred times more important to him than the sport.

(And the way Tsuna finds it in him to _apologize_, to look so heartbroken over Yamamoto's loss of baseball as if it were he giving up the sport, only confirms Yamamoto's decision to do so).

* * *

**Lambo.**

Nobody really knows why Lambo was chosen to be the Lightning Guardian (at least, not until he turns fifteen).

It's not like anyone in their right minds would willingly choose a five year old child perpetually wearing a cow onesie to be the holder of one of the most powerful positions in the world; even Tsuna did not choose him, not really.

He was more thrust into the position out of convenience, because when the Varia struck, they were all only fourteen and Tsuna was still reeling from the idea that the mafia was a very real thing and not urban legend.

He's always the weak link, always the one that the household maids whisper scornfully about – the "useless child," the one that others sometimes try to take out in an attempt to take up the position themselves. And until he's older, he's always the one who needs to be taken care of, held up and shielded from the real battles.

Really, what else could be expected? Lambo is a crybaby, a child, a little boy from a nondescript family who suddenly finds himself amidst battles between the most powerful figures in the underworld. How could he have been expected to react accordingly at all, to stay and fight?

But when, upon his fifteenth birthday (fifteen, because fourteen is the age when most of the Guardians had to accept their rings, and Tsuna-nii insisted _one more year, Lambo needs to think this through carefully, he's always been young-_), he's taken aside and officially asked: "Lambo, do you want this ring? You're so young, you know, and being in the Family doesn't have to mean being the Guardian, you can walk away whenever you want-" he hadn't even let Tsuna-nii finish the sentence.

(And whenever people criticize him for being weak, whenever people question his place among the almighty Guardians, he doesn't even have a chance to speak – one of the older Guardians has already snapped at the person questioning Lambo's validity, and Tsuna-nii always, _always_ vehemently protects and defends Lambo).

Because yeah, Lambo's young, and yeah, Tsuna-nii will never stop feeling the crippling guilt for dragging a small child into this dark world, will never stop questioning himself on if he did the right thing on bringing Lambo in.

But he doesn't realize that Lambo – the five year old Lambo, the fifteen year old Lambo, the twenty-five, thirty-five, however old Lambo – has never found more happiness than by Tsuna's side. Even later on, Lambo will remember vividly the memories of his five-year old self: laughing with I-pin and Fuuta and Maman, driving Tsuna and Gokudera up the wall but never left behind.

Everyone else has always disregarded him for being young, for being annoying, for being weak. Any mafia boss in his right mind should have just left Lambo behind, if he knew what was good for him.

But Tsuna-nii gives up his own ring – _the Vongola sky ring_ – to save his life. His, stupid Lambo of the Bovino Family.

Tsuna-nii has given Lambo everything he's ever treasured – friends, family, happy times; even the sad times always had something that made Lambo happier than anything else ever has.

Tsuna-nii's never left Lambo behind, not for anything. He's never called Lambo useless, has never, ever complained about having to protect the weaker child from his enemies. Instead, he's only gotten twice as angry at those who dared to attack Lambo to begin with, has only worried twice as much when Lambo gets hurt.

(It's the entire reason he works so hard to perfect the Elettrico Cuoio – to prove that he can protect Tsuna-nii, too, to be someone that can be of use to his precious older brother).

He gives Lambo a place in his Family, takes him in and shows him love and laughter and happiness.

And later, Lambo will become someone who can silence his doubters on his own; he'll become someone so powerful that the Decimo hardly ever receives any damage, because Lambo will have drawn it away unto himself first – he'd rather die of pain before let even the smallest of attacks hit Tsuna.

But for now, five-year old Lambo is content and indescribably happy to even pull on Tsuna-nii's hair.

* * *

**Sasagawa.**

People think Sasagawa Ryohei first met Sawada Tsunayoshi the day the latter had entered dying will mode and accidentally pulled him to school at high speed.

They're wrong.

Sasagawa actually meets Sawada Tsunayoshi the third week of middle school. He's a second year, but Kyoko's just started her first year of junior high; he meets Sawada Tsunayoshi on accident. It goes a little something like this:

Kyoko comes back home crying one day because she's lost the small star necklace Ryohei had gotten her for her birthday last year. She says she took it off for P.E. like usual and put it in her desk, and when she came back to change, it had been gone. This is the first week of school.

They try to find it and they can't, and Kyoko's eyes start to water again so Ryohei tells her not to worry, that onii-chan will find it for her (she doesn't want a new one, she wants the one her older brother bought her for her birthday).

He's beginning to lose all hope of ever finding it when he turns the corner to go pick up Kyoko from her classroom; she's had to stay late on cleanup duty. He pauses when he hears something along the lines of _Um, Kaneda-san, that- that necklace- I think it's Kyoko-chan's._

The girl vehemently denies it, but the boy (later Ryohei will learn that this is Sawada Tsunayoshi, when he sees Kyoko saying goodbye to him after school one day) remains firm. Eventually, the girl huffs indignantly, mutters _whatever, you freak, you can have this stupid necklace if it's that important to you._

That afternoon, Kyoko comes home beaming, saying that her necklace had magically reappeared in her desk (Ryohei doesn't tell her what he overheard because if Sawada hadn't thought to tell her, then he won't betray the supposed secret, either – it's a bond between men).

So to be honest, Ryohei's known who Sawada Tsunayoshi was before that fateful morning (Kyoko also talks about him a lot, and apparently kids call him Dame-Tsuna, but he's a good kid).

The second time he meets Sawada Tsunayoshi, he meets the first person he's ever encountered who can rival his own enthusiasm for life.

Overall, Sasagawa Ryohei has always been fairly popular – it's hard not to be when you play a sport as well as he does, and really, Kyoko's attractive looks are generally genetic. But he's always felt a bit out of place, to be honest, because nobody really gets him.

People are scared of his fervor, of his exuberance, and instead of sharing his excitement most people back up in fright. He doesn't mind because most times he's too caught up in enjoying the moment to be brought down by the people around him.

But it's still hard, and it kinda gets him down sometimes that nobody ever really understands.

Sawada does.

Sawada doesn't think his excitement is _weird_ – instead, he says "wow, Onii-san is always in the dying will state – that's amazing," as if the rest of society _doesn't_ find him weird for that exact same reason. Sawada pushes him to savor it, tells him that it's a good thing to be so pumped up, instead of telling him to _calm down_ and _would you chill out_ like most others do.

(He also makes Kyoko happy, and a happy Kyoko is a happy Ryohei).

It makes Ryohei happy that someone has a use for his fists and his high-adrenaline energy and his fierceness.

He gives Ryohei worthy opponents (later, he and Lussuria will have a boxing match tradition – once a month, every month, without fail); he gives Ryohei a drive to push himself even more than he'd ever thought possible; he gives Ryohei a place to put his fists and a _reason _to fight_._

Sawada's a good guy.

* * *

**Hibari. **

Contrary to popular belief – that Hibari Kyouya did not have parents, and in fact, spontaneously _spawned_ from the darkest and most terrifying dredges of the world – Hibari did have parents.

His father is a rather weak man, a nondescript stockbroker who, despite his lofty salary, firmly remains ensconced in the section Hibari has reserved in his mind for _herbivores._

It his mother, then, who is a predator, from whom he presumably inherited his distinctly _carnivorous_ traits. His mother – barely thirty five when he was fifteen – had given birth to him at the tender age of twenty; she executed simultaneous motherhood and higher education flawlessly, and by the time Hibari entered junior high, had established one of Japan's top security firms.

_It's easy to defeat opponents_, she'd said, _what's hard is protecting something else. _Because in order to protect, one had to simultaneously defend _and_ attack.

It made sense.

So a thirteen year old Hibari chooses to protect something, too, if only to prove just how carnivorous he was. He chooses Namimori Junior High (and this perpetual habit of his to protect something in a twisted display of his own strength will continue on into his adult life; later it will be Namimori High, and later, Namimori. Much later, it will become Sawada Tsunayoshi).

Hibari was raised in a household with very, very little rules. His mother was the kind of person who found such things trifling – all she needed was for Hibari Kyouya to be strong and a predator, because in a world full of herbivores, the strong survived and made themselves kings.

In fact, there were only three rules in the Hibari household.

One. Do not be weak.

Two. Do not fail – at anything.

Three. Do not needlessly harm innocent things.

Rule number three is the reason that Hibari has an inherent kindness towards small animals and, grudgingly, small children (small innocent children like I-Pin; children like Lambo are not innocent, for they repeatedly commit the fatal sin of _crowding_ and _being annoying_).

So Hibari Kyouya is not used to rules, to anything that restricts his person in any way, shape or form. He was raised without curfews, permission slips or limitations.

By the time he's thirteen, it manifests in a distinct _dislike_ of anything that restricts him, to the point where it grows into such an aversion that it borders a phobia (but not _phobia_, because fear is a weakness, and Hibari Kyouya has no such things).

He even wears his uniform jacket on his shoulders, because the way it closes up around his chest and buttons upwards is suffocating.

By the time he's fourteen, the entire student population of Namimori Junior High knows three rules vital to their survival: do not break any school rules; do not defy the disciplinary committee (read: lethal gangsters loyal to Hibari Kyouya); do not crowd Hibari Kyouya.

So Hibari Kyouya and 'freedom' are synonymous with one another by the time he's fourteen, and even school _administrators_ know better than to impose such things on Hibari; in fact, they stopped giving him homework assignments and deadlines his third week of school his first year. The student council doesn't dare ask Hibari for paperwork regarding the Disciplinary Committee, and the principal doesn't dare argue when Hibari takes over his office for his own.

Everybody knows: Hibary Kyouya answers to no one and nothing, and god help whatever poor soul makes the mistake of trying to impose any kind of expectation on him.

So Hibari Kyouya is fifteen and used to complete and limitless freedom; he's fifteen, and for fifteen years, no one has ever asked a thing of him.

He's fifteen and free of expectations when he meets Sawada Tsunayoshi.

And Hibari's not going to lie, he's confused as to the very existence of Sawada Tsunayoshi; one day he's the utter runt of the herbivores, and the next, he's triumphing over very respectable carnivores. It doesn't make sense, and really, as time passes, Hibari will come to find that the more he learns of Sawada Tsunayoshi, the less sense he makes.

Moreover, his existence irks Hibari. It irks him that this herbivore constantly comes running to him for help, _asking_ him for _things_, to participate in some dumbnut battle and to wear some useless ring – who does he think he is, daring to restrict the uncontainable Hibari Kyouya?

He ignores Sawada Tsunayoshi at first, and any semblance of cooperation he ever gives comes only from his own selfish desires: to fight the deceptively strong infant; to fight the predators targeting Sawada Tsunayoshi; to fight Bucking Horse Dino; to have the infant owe him a debt. He couldn't care less about the stupid ring all these idiots are running around over, couldn't care less about some inheritance, couldn't even care enough to spare a glance in Sawada Tsunayoshi's direction.

But then.

It's stupid, _Sawada Tsunayoshi is stupid_, because everyone – his own parents included – know better than to impose something as stupid as _expectations_ on Hibari Kyouya. They don't ask anything of him, never have, but suddenly there's this exasperating herbivore, who won't _stop_ asking him to do things.

And in the times that Hibari does end up showing up (due to purely selfish reasons), Sawada Tsunayoshi is there, acting _relieved_ and _happy_ that Hibari has shown up, smiling at him and _thanking him._

For the first time in his life, Hibari Kyouya is rendered completely baffled.

He doesn't understand why the herbivore insists on _entrusting him_ with things, on repeatedly _counting on him_ and _expecting him to show up._ Because that's what he does, Hibari's realized – Sawada Tsunayoshi asks him for things not like someone taking a shot in the dark (as any normal person should when asking things of Hibari Kyouya), but more like he actually expects Hibari to show up, _trusts_ him to show up.

No one's ever done such a foolish thing, and it's this awful, heavy feeling, and Hibari feels like he's _choking_ on the expectations and _limits._

The more Sawada Tsunayoshi believes in him, the more he pulls away, because he can feel a claw closing in on his neck, cutting off his air supply.

Hibari Kyouya _hates_ restrictions.

But then, the fact that the herbivore actually keeps _believing_ Hibari will show up – like some twisted dark knight – leaves this bitter taste on the back of his tongue, and before he knows it, he's showing up without the infant having to come and fetch him first. He doesn't stand around the stupid circle with the others (only herbivores crowd together), but he's there, leaning against the rooftop or a distant pillar, sharp eyes zeroing in on the Decimo.

To this day, Hibari's not quite sure what triggered it.

He's unwilling to admit that there's a small, painfully _human_ part of him deep down that feels the urge to show up if Sawada Tsunayoshi is depending on him to do so (that's foolish and weak).

But then, there's also never been anyone who did such a thing as to dare to expect things of Hibari Kyouya, and it's almost for amusement's sake that Hibari goes along with Sawada Tsunayoshi's wishes.

There's also a part of him that's inherently attracted to Sawada Tsunayoshi's strength – it's not quite as strong as his, yet, but there's this potential there that Hibari can _smell_. It's there, and in a bit of time, he will become someone that can entertain Hibari very, very well.

There's a part of Hibari Kyouya that will remain bitter to the very end that he'd somehow been tricked into playing Guardian, because by being the Cloud for the Family, he feels binded, in one way or another.

(But there's also a part of him questioning if he ever stood a chance – because by nature, the sky encompasses and envelops everything, clouds included).

* * *

**Chrome.**

Chrome. Nagi, technically, but Chrome chooses to take on the life that Mukuro gave her rather than the one that had been left to die by her parents.

And that's basically a poignant summation of her life by the time she's thirteen – always alone, antisocial to a fault, but not because she dislikes people. She's just always been quiet and withdrawn, and teenagers were cruel, is all; they poked fun at her and gave her a wide berth, because they said she was _weird_ and _creepy_.

Society shunned her, and really, even her parents depraved her of the love she thought she'd receive from her family. She's always tried to convince herself that she doesn't care about any of it, not really, but there's always a white cast to her features when she remembers her mother's damning words: _"It isn't just me. No one wished for that child to stay alive this long."_

It was _Mukuro_ who picked her up, who gave her life, who told her that she could be powerful and live, who _told_ her to live.

Mukuro has the first place in her heart – until she meets Sawada Tsunayoshi, Vongola Decimo.

And in the world that had left her to die – that had compelled her to do so, even – it was Sawada Tsunayoshi who came to her with a smile and a kind hand. Mukuro may have been the one to save her life, but it was Sawada Tsunayoshi who gave her a reason to live at all.

When Chrome thinks of him, sometimes she sees him as a brilliant, all-encompassing figure of white and wings, because he's kind of like an _angel_ in her eyes; an avenging angel when his friends are endangered, a benevolent one towards people like Chrome. Mukuro and Chrome are one and the same, but Boss is the first separate entity in her life – with nothing to gain by helping her – to have reached out and pulled her up from the edge of the abyss from which she'd dangled.

She's never known kindness like his, never known a heart so pure that it blinds (Mukuro-sama always tsks and says it'll get him eaten one day).

She's never known such a warmth as when he gently holds her hand and tells him not to worry, because he's here for her.

When he smiles at her, it's as though she stops feeling cold for the first time in her life (_the cold of the operating room, the cold metal of the hospital bed, the cold of the dirty concrete walls of an abandoned Kokuyo land)._

It's almost addictive, the kind of warmth and love that emanates from Vongola Tenth's being.

Mukuro-sama will always be the most important person in her life, but Chrome thinks that it's alright if she loves Sawada Tsunayoshi just as much – because as much as he loathes to admit it, Vongola Decimo is almost just as important to Mukuro, too.

* * *

**Mukuro.**

They locked him up in the Vendicare – said that he had committed unspeakable crimes against the mafia itself, punishable only by something as terrible as an unending agony, because even death would be a reprieve.

They're all dirty, dirty liars and hypocrites.

To take a child and experiment upon him _until he's walked through all the levels of hell_; to take him and to mutilate his body _over and over and over again_ in the name of _science_. This is alright, this is not a crime – but when the child finally grows strong enough to escape his terrible captors, _he_ becomes the criminal.

This is the dirty, hypocritical law of the bloody Mafia world – the world that had subjected Mukuro to unspeakable hurt and abandoned him there, left him broken to die, and when it seemed that he would live, locked him up in prison.

For all he cares, every last Mafioso can _burn in the deepest pit of hell_, until he can smell his own flesh burning and gag on the stench, until he feels the flames lick at his bones and his insides, until his blood turns to tar and gags his throat and his vision.

Rokudo Mukuro is fifteen – awe-inspiring criminal of the mafia world, embittered survivor and _frightened child_ – when he meets Vongola Decimo.

Vongola Decimo is not at all like what he envisioned. The boy is weak, brittle and a whiny child, someone wholly unfit to lead the mighty crown of the underworld. He's stupid and naïve and clueless about what kind of a dirty, dark world he's just stepped foot into, and his naivete makes Mukuro want to devour him alive.

So Decimo becomes his new goal.

Mukuro will possess him, and use his useless body to take possession of the sinful world that broke him.

He doesn't know when he started to lose sight of that vision.

Perhaps it was when Vongola Decimo refused to abandon Nagi (Chrome was the name he gave her, but she is _Nagi_ to him), even when she lacked vital organs and would only be another source of weakness to him and his empire.

If not then, then maybe it was when he saw the anger burning in Decimo's eyes upon hearing of the crimes that had been committed against Mukuro. Maybe it was when Decimo turned to Mukuro with surprisingly firm eyes, told him- _I'll help you._ (In a world where Sawada Tsunayoshi had just inherited the largest crown of the Underworld, he turned right back around and spit at the empire that told him to stay far away from Mukuro).

If not then, it must have been the time – or times – that Sawada Tsunayoshi practically tripped over himself in the haste to get to Mukuro – to protect him, to clutch at his wounds and ask if he's alright, to shield the worst criminal of the world from his attackers.

At first, it pisses him off.

Because Mukuro just wants to be angry at the world, wants to resent it, wants to let it burn for all he cares. It is Sawada Tsunayoshi who comes in and makes him question his grudge against the world that had _killed him six times over_, who's damning kindness is almost Mukuro's undoing. Why can't that stupid, stupid boy just stay away and _let him be angry?_

But he wins over Nagi, first, with his soft smile and what Mukuro thought was a deceptive kindness, at first. (It's not deceit, he's horrified to learn later – Sawada Tsunayoshi is even _kinder_ than he'd thought).

And really, when the prince of the Underworld turns to him and offers him his protection and his kindness and his loyalty and a place in his Family – when he has no need to, when he already has the kingdom at his feet and would only _lose things_ by taking in Mukuro – how did anyone ever think he stood a chance?

Sawada Tsunayoshi is not a Mafioso, he'll give him that; he's just a stupid, stupid little boy with a heart too soft for his own good. (So Mukuro supposes that he'll stay – so that he can be the dark side that's necessary for Tsunayoshi to preserve his kindness, because in a world as dark as theirs, he won't survive if he's left to be as good as he is).

But he's Rokudo Mukuro, and he still has his pride – so if anyone asks, he'll insist that he's only sticking around to lunge at the first chance to possess Sawada Tsunayoshi.

(And in the future, Tsunayoshi will only laugh and smile brightly, as if he's privy to some inside joke about it all. Because it's been ten years, and it's a known fact that Sawada Tsunayoshi constantly and unendingly lowers his guards around his precious Guardians – and he's yet to possess him yet, as he?)

* * *

**A/N:** Yeah, Chrome / Mukuro's was a bit shorter than the rest, but that's because I view them as two halves of a whole.

Let me know which piece you liked the most and what you thought about it? Oho - and what you'd like to see next.


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